The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-08-12

oioHitS StatS iiSC AiSSS Vi angus
5th, says:
Give the railroads right to com
bIne as they will, and let the mos
courageous lease the others and g
ahead.
That sounds well, aud on the sur.
face, seems to be in the line of public
policy. But the stern logic of histor
zeal facts prove il to be in the interes
OF monopolies, more grasping and
dangerous to the public veal than
any others in existence in the United
States, the Standard Oil monopoly
not excepted. Railways are public
necessities and should be protected by
legislation in the just exercise of all
proper powers; and The TINES be-
lieves they should be permitted 10
charge such just compensation for the
carrying of both passengers and
freight az will ensure reasonable div
dends on the capital actually exbend,d
IN their construction, and all neces-
sary operating expenses, the maxi
mum charges in all cases to be fixed
by law. Also, that in all cases, the
same rates for fare and freight should
be charged every patron, and the
paying to shippers or agents of any
rebates, Ia any form, made criminal
offense. That would ensure fair play
and protect individual interests. But
under any possible combination, by
which the railroads in one State pass
TO the control Of corporations created
by any foreign country or any other
State, such regulations become ain
impcssibility, and without them the
railway companies become little less
than public robbers.
If the honest, able and ordinarily
level beaded editor of the Free Press
had lived in Michigan for the thirty
years last past, he would never have
penned those lines. The evil effects
OF "giving the railroads chance to
combine" on the productive indus
tries OF our State would have taught
him, as they have taught us, to look
upon all railroad combinations, by
which the roads in one State pass
under the control of corporation
NOT created by the laws Of the State
where such corporation exists, as an
unmitigated curse to the business in
dustries Of the State. Since 1916,
has been suffering the evil
effects of the sale Of her railway sys-
TEN 10 parties not residents of Mich
igan. For some years past the Mich
igan Central aud the Michigan South
ern railways have been parts of.the
great Vanderbilt system, practically
under the control Of the New York
Central and managed largely with
reference to the making of money for
that corporation, no matter what the
effect might be to the industrial
classes in Michigan. So far has this
policy been carried that the people of
the State have spent millions in the
building OF competing lines, often to
see them swallowed up by this huge
monopoly, and to be still oppressed
until oppression has become almost
uncomfortable. Ask the citizens Of
Hastings, Dowagiac, Decatur, Dexter,
Coldwater, Quincy, White Pigeon. or
of any other town on the lines Of the
Central and Southern where there is
no competition, what are the effects
on the business of their place of the
combined railway system by which
their road has been controlled by the
Vanderbilts, and they will tell you
that it has been ever depressing, and
is growing worse all ofthe time. And
it is safe TO say that no town is pros
pering in this State today, or has
been able to build up manufacturing
industries along the roads of this sys-
tenn outside the salt and lumber dis.
tricts, where competition with other
roads does not exist.
The truth is that we owe our pros
perity here in Owosso simply to the
fact that we have competing lines OF
railway that enable US to proftably
engage in manufacturing. With only
one road for twenty years Owosso